Sick and impotent.....GRrrrrrrr

[jonkertb]

Sick with what I just watched as an awesome winged predator took one of my fat adult males and flew off with lunch......and feeling impotent to stop him from coming back for more now that he has been successful. I saw him twice this morning and chased him off with shouts and running at him in the tree where he perched but he was persistant and swooped in as I watched........kinda sick at what this will mean to my colony this year.
tom :>(

any legal suggestions?

[Steve Kroenke]

Tom,

What you might do, if you haven't already, is add some plastic martin decoys to your colony site. You could attach some decoys to various gourd racks/houses and see if these decoys would deflect any Accipiter hawk away from the real martins. I know some folks have had good success with decoys.

I have a bunch of martin systems and a bunch of martins. I do have a separate martin decoy pole placed south of colony so that any Accipiter hawk or merlin coming low from that direction may hit the decoys first. I have seen a few raptors actually grab the decoys while my real martins escaped higher up in the sky. However, we just have too many real martins and the raptors tend to primarily go for them rather than the decoys.

Some landlords have built "cages" around their housing to keep Accipiter hawks from grabbing martins off porches/perches. These cages will not keep the raptors from catching martins in flight around the colony. In our colonies, nearly all attacks are on martins that have left the housing and not on martins that are perched on the housing.

You most likely have an Accipiter hawk, either a Cooper's or sharp-shinned hawk attacking your martins. Both these species do nest in your area though the sharp-shinned hawk nest in larger numbers farther north, particularly in Canada. However, the hawk could be a migrant and may only attack a few times before continuing his/her journey north.

I have had pretty good success with yelling and clapping my hands and maintaining a visible presence directly around the colony when an Accipiter hawk or merlin is approaching and I can see the raptor. If the raptors clearly see me, they tend to avoid coming directly into our martin colonies.

Maybe the hawk is a migrant and he/she will be gone soon. Good luck.

Steve

[Laverne]

OK - legally - since we can't shoot them or throw rocks at them or really do anything to hurt them..... I run outside yelling "Git Hawk!" and my dog barks and runs with me and I clap my hands really loud. I've clapped so hard and so much that I've bruised my palms before. If you kinda cup your hands you can make the report pretty loud. I also use my buildings to echo the noise back at him.

This time of the year, our hawk doesn't catch many Purple Martins. So, far I don't recall a successful attack. But, when fledging starts, -- ... well, then I'm gonna be sick...

The best argument for keeping your martin housing away from the trees is seen right here. If a strong, healthy Purple Martin is given enough warning he will usually evade the hawk attack. If the hawk can sneak up on the PMs, then the hawk has a much better chance of nabbing one.

I believe our female Cooper's must be sitting on her own nest right now, because we are only seeing one hawk - I believe this is the male. He's not as good as his mate. She's got the sabotage thing down to a fine art. He hasn't figured it out, yet. Yesterday, I watched him chase a Mourning Dove across our field. I don't know if the dove made it or not, but there were about 30 Purple Martins in hot pursuit of the hawk while he tried to capture the dove. This hawk has his work cut out for him. I hope he didn't have to go home to Momma empty-handed. And on the other hand, I hope he learns that there are many other prey out there for him who have much more meat on their bones than a scrawny Purple Martin. Maybe we should hang onto our trapped starlings and then we can toss them to the hawks when they come after our martins!

[Mike1624]

Tom, I would strongly second Steve's advice concerning the decoys. I have had a similar problem here and was advised to increase the decoy presence. I bought a 4 pack from PMCA and added them to the one I had. The day I put them up, 3 of them were hit that evening, I straightened them up and 2 more were hit. Since then I haven't seen our local accipiter. Maybe he doesn't like plastic in his talons.

[Ladybug]

Is your colony the one that is just South of Coatesville on the West side of the road? I've been by there a few times. It is a beautiful sight to see.

[flyin-lowe]

Tom
Last year I woke up one morning to my martins throwing a fit. I looked out the window just in time to see a hawk hit one of my decoys. I went outside a few minutes later to check on things and as I approached the house they went crazy again. I thought they were just startled and didn't want me around. About that time out of nowhere the hawk hit the second decoy on my perching station while I was standing about 5 feet away.
This year I noticed one morning that my decoys were upside down on the perch. I went out to fix them thinking the wind had moved them. To my surprise a hawk flew off from behind my shed about 30 feet from the housing. There is no doubt he had attacked the decoys and knocked them upside down. I did lose one pair last year during nesting, I am not sure why could have been a hawk or something else but they laid one egg and I never saw them again. But I do know that the decoys can help.

[jonkertb]

Well, thanks for all your repllies......running and clapping and yellling is usually too late if I'm in the house....and the times I was fast enough I was in my undies so gotta keep from being arrested LOL

I have thought of putting "fencing" around the trio castles because that is where he nails 'em on the porches. I have to be careful though not to make too much of an eyesore in my neighbor's eyes because we are in a POA and I want to stay under the radar.....I have the "fences" around the houses I built but the trios are a different story.

I guess I'll figure out a plan for the decoys....I don't have a step ladder tall enough to service my pole tops...guess I could fasten them to the houses on a dowel rod.


I understand about not throwing rocks or getting out the pellet gun....maybe a package of HOSP with snares to catch him and then relocate him LOL...with my eyes pecked out!

This guy has been here since late winter and he is impressive in his attacks and eating in the nearby trees with feathers flying....kind of mixed feelings because hawks have always fascinated me!

[jonkertb]

Question about decoys.....how long do they work....when a hawk hits them don't they quickly figure out to go for the moving stuff?? I am thinking of mounting them on springs so they'll wobble? any thoughts on how long they are useful?

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Attaching 2x4 fencing is easy on a trio, can be done in a few minutes, appearance is not too bad and is almost undectectable from 100 ft away. Just hinge the bottom to a porch rail with zip ties.

[jonkertb]

Problem is my trio is the 12 sided castle and a fence must be easy to raise for nest checks.......guess we have a lay awake engineering project

[flyin-lowe]

Tom
I ended up using a Tri-Tel pole with a perching station on the top. I don't trust the pole with a lot of weight on it but it is fine for perching. To get the decoys to stay on the round perch I put a small hose clamp on the perch and tightened it. The excess clamp from the clamp sticks up and I attach the decoy to that. That gives it some spring and movement. I try to move them around once a month or so. I think as long as they get moved every so often that really helps. As the hawk is coming in it looks for the slowest moving target, which is the decoy.

[jonkertb]

Hi Flyin Lowe...
Yes, but will the same hawk continue to strike at the same plastic bird or will it learn real quick to by pass it on it's next hunt?

[KathyF]

There's no good answer to that ...I had a Cooper's hawk hit the same decoy 4x - 4 days in a row. He never quit....I moved the decoys, he'd hit one then fly up and hit another in the same attack run. Point is - the decoys work.

I move all my decoys around every 3-5 days, depending on what day I'm bringing the racks down. With >45 pairs last year, I have 8 decoys in play at all times, moving them randomly and I keep them right in the heart of the colony - not on a separate pole by themselves. It looks more natural that way.

[jonkertb]

Ok You Guys.....I'll see if anyone has a package locally otherwise it'll be ordered tomorrow.....:>)
you've convinced me to give it a try....

[M.Stephens]

I suggest you mount a pole socket into cement into a large coffee can or small bucket.

And then get conduit or small metal poles and make perches and apply the decoys on them and then insert the pole into the socket.

With the small bucket or coffee can you can easily move them around .

I think it will work , this is my next project. I plan on doing several of these.

When I get finished with mine I'll post pictures.